Environmental group to air ad praising Lamar Alexander air vote

Sen. Lamar Alexander is coming in for some praise from an environmental group for backing a controversial clean-air rule.

The Environmental Defense Fund has put together a 30-second TV spot thanking Alexander for supporting a mercury-reduction measure put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency. The ad will air in five Tennessee television markets and is one of the biggest buys for an individual lawmaker in a while, the EDF says.

“We realize he’s a small-government conservative who won’t always be with us, but on this vote (mercury pollution) he did the un-Washington thing of putting partisan politics aside and we wanted to recognize that,” EDF spokesman Keith Gaby said in a email.

The spot notes that Tennessee utilities — namely the Tennessee Valley Authority — had already planned to install mercury-reducing scrubbers. It says Alexander’s vote would put those companies on a level playing field with out-of-state producers.

Alexander came under fire from the coal industry earlier this summer for supporting the so-called Utility MACT rule, which requires power plants to emit as little mercury by 2016 as the cleanest 12 percent do today. Opponents aired ads accusing Alexander as killing jobs and — perhaps even worse — siding with the Obama administration.

(Washington, D.C. — July 3, 2012) Environmental Defense Action Fund (EDAF) today launched a major television ad campaign to thank Senator Lamar Alexander for his leadership in the fight to protect the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards.

“Senator Alexander stood up for clean air and Tennessee families, and he deserves our thanks. Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that threatens young children and pregnant women — we can’t just ignore the problem,” said Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund. “Lamar Alexander took a courageous stand for the people of his home state.”

Sen. Alexander helped lead the fight to defeat an effort under the Congressional Review Act that would have killed the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and stopped the EPA from issuing a rule that is “substantially the same” in the future. The new standards are expected to save 11,000 lives each year and significantly reduce mercury pollution in the environment.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has already begun to reduce its pollution under a separate legal agreement, and the new federal rules will now require non-Tennessee utilities to start cleaning up as well.

“Senator Alexander put his constituents before partisan politics,” added EDAF President Elizabeth Thompson. “We don’t always agree with Senator Alexander – in fact, he has called for a delay in these rules which we think is a bad idea. But when it counted, he fought for common sense pollution limits. We recognize strong leadership for clean air when we see it, on either side of the aisle.”

The ad will be running Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville, Jackson, and Memphis the week of July 4th. It can be seen here.

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Environmental Defense Action Fund (www.edactionfund.org) is at the forefront of educating legislators about developing new solutions that protect the natural world while growing the economy. Through grassroots and direct lobbying, EDAF amplifies Environmental Defense Fund’s ability to champion laws that are based on science, economic incentives, and, above all, the protection of our environment.